ALTUMS

[finnster]

I'm new here but I find this a superb website - well done to whoever set it up!

I've kept tropical fish (and marines during the time) for around 20 years and I'm now venturing into breeding.
I have some tanks set up in my garage besides my display tank and I'm really into Angels at the moment. I have a pair of ordinary Scalares spawning in one of the tanks just now.
I'm seriously considering going for Altums - the proper Orinoco one's - and I'd love to get into breeding them.
There's some info on them on the net but it's not exactly in abundance.

I wondered if there's any of you good people out there who can help.
Do you keep them? - Do you breed them?
Do you have any advice or have any links to some good sites on the net.

Any help would be much appreciated before I take the plunge.

 

[CFC]

Before venturing into the realms of breeding altum angels i would strongly advise investing in a RO water filter, to successfully breed altums you will need to have water with a pH of around 5.5 to 6 and almost no measurable hardness, basicly just enough KH to stabilise the water to stop pH swings with a GH below 5. Once you have the water right breeding them is as easy as breeding the hardier tank bred scalares that you already have.

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Any idea where you can get Altums in the UK? I have looked but had no success.

WK

 

[CFC]

You can get them quite regularly down here on the Surrey borders of London, at least 3 shops within 5 miles of me currently have them in stock, not a cheap fish though at £30 each the average price!

 

[Waterloo Kid]

I was expecting a price in that region. Pretty much the discus of angels really aren't they. My water is pretty soft. Yesterday's test showed a GH of 7 degrees and a KH of 4. My pH is generally in the region of 7.4 Would this be OK for Altums to live in?

WK

 

[CFC]

With the KH and GH so low you could easily bring the pH down with peat filtration which would make the water 100% perfect for keeping and breeding altums and other south american wild caught species (you lucky git )

Here is a brilliant page i found on peat filtration and how it works, explains it far better than i could, http/hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/peat%20page.html

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Apart from silly high phosphate levels the water round here is great!

WK

 

[CFC]

Get yourself a pre filter that removes phosphates and you'll be laughing then, in fact buy yourself enough 25 litre barrels to fill with the stuff and you could have a thriving business selling it to us poor London folk with the crappiest tap water imaginable

 

[Doggfather]

yet another fish i won't be finding in Australia

Good luck breeding them! CFC basically said it all

 

[Ben]

yet another fish i won't be finding in Australia

Good luck breeding them! CFC basically said it all

hehehe don't know about melbourne dogg but in perth we got em

good luck finnster

 

[Doggfather]

Your lfs is either importing illegal fish or your telling a lie.

 

[ryan]

Well Waterloo Kid as CFC said, bag up your water and send it around, cambridge will have some to.

 

[Ben]

Your lfs is either importing illegal fish or your telling a lie.

depends what ur talking about, the wild angels or the altums, cuz i can wild angels

 

[ryan]

Do you mean Pterophyllum scalare then and not Pterophyllum altum? It seems strange that they would import wild caught Pterophyllum scalare when they can get farm breed fish far cheaper and in more colour variety, how much are they going for over there? From Doggfathers reports all the nice fish you seem to be able to get (not many!) are quite expensive? Do you get any nice Plec species where you are dude?

 

[Doggfather]

i'm talking about the altums